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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28934493">Bring Back What Was Once My Brother</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/PancakeHand2/pseuds/Oystrichpelican'>Oystrichpelican (PancakeHand2)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bring Back What Was Once My Brother [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU, Brother Feels, Brotherhood, Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Brothers, Cuddling &amp; Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Just a group of children/teenagers trying to survive as the world goes to hell, Little Brothers, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Kissing, Post-Apocalypse, Protective Loki, Protective Older Brothers, Protective Thor, Survival, no zombies</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 14:21:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,183</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28934493</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/PancakeHand2/pseuds/Oystrichpelican</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Three years ago, Thor was taken at seven-years-old. Three years later, he returns and things have changed. One is that he's the only one besides Loki that is still alive, and Thor's left to take care of him while the world ends.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bruce Banner &amp; Loki &amp; Clint Barton &amp; Steve Rogers &amp; Natasha Romanov &amp; Tony Stark &amp; Thor, Loki and Thor (Marvel), Peter Parker &amp; Morgan Stark, Tony Stark &amp; Peter Parker, Tony Stark/Pepper Potts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bring Back What Was Once My Brother [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2122755</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thor, Loki, and other Marvel characters belong to Disney and Marvel.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Escaping Theodore wasn't easy, not with the 56-year-old buying at least over 23 cameras around the five story house, Theodore had a big family, surprisingly most were nicer than Theodore, the oldest in the household of 11, not counting Thor. Three years spent, three years as he went from a seven-year-old little kid, to a 10-year-old big kid in captivity. Three years of Loki's childhood Thor spent missing his adopted baby brother turn from a four-year-old toddler, to a seven-year-old boy.</p><p>Neither boy had their parents anymore, Odin died two years ago in a accident at work, Frigga died in a car crash a year ago. And that left Thor the only person, a child himself, to take care of Loki as the world goes more crazy than Thor had heard on the news. Thor looked at his little brother who slept peacefully in his arms, rocking as he did so.</p><p>"I'll protect you, Loki," Thor whispered, burying his face into the long black hair that belonged to Loki. "You here me little brother? I'm not leaving you again, never ever, again."</p><p>"P-Promise?" Loki mumbled sleepily.</p><p>A kiss to the top of Loki's head was the first part of his response. "Big brother promises."</p><p>Loki gained a smile as he nuzzled into Thor's chest, Thor's heartbeat entering the younger's hearing.</p><p>"My big brother promises."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Baby Mine belongs to Bette Midler, Frank Churchill, Ned Washington, and Disney.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Loki, Loki wake up."</p><p>Thor hated waking Loki this early at 4:00 A.M., but he wasn't leaving Loki alone, that was the part of his promise to his baby brother that he made yesterday. Slowly, Loki did wake up, his green eyes meeting Thor's blue eyes.</p><p>"T-Thor?"</p><p>"Come on Loki, time to wake up." Thor whipered.</p><p>"Why? Are the bad guys coming?" Loki asked as he started to get himself out of bed.</p><p>"No, we're just goi-wait, bad guys?" Thor asked.</p><p>"It happened the day before you came back, a bad guy broke in and took all my books. I tried calling the police first because mom and dad always said to call them in case of a emergency, but they didn't answer. And I tried calling Mr. Stark and Miss Potts, and they didn't answer too!" Loki explained. "It was scary Thor! I had to hide in the closet and I didn't know when to leave!"</p><p>Loki sniffled and wiped his nose. "I left when I couldn't stand the smell of my pee and poop. They left the door open and it was getting dark out so I shut it before anyone else could get in."</p><p>Thor was angry, not at Loki, he couldn't be mad at Loki. His sweet baby brother did nothing wrong, he did the right thing. Thor was mad at...at that person who stole from Loki. Man or woman, or even a child, they deserved Thor's hatred towards them. Thor pulled Loki close as the younger started to cry. Thor then lifted Loki up and wrapped Loki's legs around his waist and Thor's arms wrapped around Loki's back.</p><p>"I'm sorry Loki, I'm so sorry little brother." Thor spoke, the boy barely noticed the lump in his thought. "I'm so sorry Loki."</p><p>"It's n-not your fault." Loki tried to assure his older sibling. "You did nothing wrong."</p><p>"I feel like I have, they could've hurt you." Thor responed. "They-They could've hu-hurt you and I-I-I-"</p><p>"Thor?" Loki watched as his elder sibling drop to his knees, taking Loki with him. "Big brother?"</p><p>"L-Loki I..." Thor choked out. "Oh Loki!"</p><p>Loki winced at the embrace tightening a bit. Tears rolled down Thor's cheeks as he cried himself. Loki stayed in Thor's arms, he wasn't leaving Thor, not when he was crying.</p><p>"Thor, please don't cry over me." Loki pleaded.</p><p>"I c-can't! I can't Loki!" Thor sobbed.</p><p>Loki started to cry harder, he didn't mean to make his big brother cry. Loki moved his head under Thor's and felt Thor kiss the top of his head. A long amount of minutes passed until Loki pulled his head out from under Thor's and the two boys looked at each other. Thor lowered his head to place a kiss on Loki's cheek and Loki was lifted to place a kiss on Thor's own.</p><p>"I-I love you big brother." Loki sounded hoarse. Thor kissed Loki's forehead in response.</p><p>"I love you too, baby brother." Thor repeated.</p><p>Loki yawned, crying had tired him out. Giving a quick glance at Thor, he looked way more tired than Loki. </p><p>"Thor?" </p><p>"Yeah?" </p><p>"Can you sing that song from Dumbo?" Loki asked. "Mom sang or hummed it a lot, remember?" </p><p>Thor smiled, of course he remembered. "Okay."</p><p>And then, he started.</p><p>
  <em>Baby mine, don't you cry</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Baby mine, dry your eyes</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Rest your head close to my heart,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Never to part, baby of mine. </em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Thor, I'm scared." </p><p>Thor held onto Loki's hand as the two walked down the street. Thor had a bag filled with food, clothes, a first aid kit, and a bunch of paper and art supplies for Loki, strapped to his back. Loki carried a brown teddy bear who Loki had named Teddy, in his arms as he walked past the many houses of the neighborhood. </p><p>"I know Loki, I am too." Thor said and looked at a red truck on it's left side. "But, I'm here now and I'm not going to let anything or anyone hurt you, understand?"</p><p>Loki nodded. "I-I understand."</p><p>Thor led Loki over to the truck and made sure that Loki knew to yell or scream if he saw something suspicious while Thor was looking through the vehicle. Thor climbed up and after carefully moving around the glass from the broken window, he got inside. </p><p>"Thor?" Thor heard Loki ask.</p><p>"What is it Loki?"</p><p>"Are you okay?" Loki asked. Looking back, Thor saw Loki was way closer to the truck. </p><p>"Yeah, I'm okay Loki." Thor assured the younger. </p><p>"Did you find anything?" Loki started to climb up the truck too. </p><p>"Hold on a sec," Thor told his brother. Thor climbed over the front row of the truck and to the bag. The seats were just covered in paper. Thor looked down under the seats and luckily found a satchel under it. "I found something Loki!"</p><p>"Yay big brother!" Loki cheered and Thor giggled. </p><p>Thor lifted the bag up and climbed back over the front seats and out the window. Loki got out of the way and Thor showed him the bag. </p><p>"Ooh, what's in it?" Loki questioned.</p><p>"I don't know yet." Thor replied.</p><p>Thor opened the satchel up and started to pull stuff out. It ended up just being a bunch of paper, Thor could see some were receipts, some were just something that Thor didn't understand. Thor sighed and Loki pouted, this wasn't exactly what the brothers were hoping for. Thor tried again and pulled out a phone and its charger. </p><p>"Finally something useful in here!" Thor showed the device to Loki.</p><p>"Thor! That's somebody's phone! Not ours!" Loki shouted. </p><p>"I told you we were going to look through stuff, Loki." Thor argued. </p><p>"I just thought food or toys! Not phones!" Loki shouted once again. "Now put it and the bag back!" </p><p>"Loki."</p><p>"Now!"</p><p>Thor sighed and put the phone, charger, and paper back in the satchel and dropped the bag through the big hole in the window. </p><p>"There, happy?" Thor scowled.</p><p> "Very happy." Loki smiled.</p><p>Thor rolled his eyes and walked up to Loki and grabbed his brother's left hand and they started to walk away. </p><p>"Thor, I'm hungry." Loki whined halfway in their walk as they left the neighborhood. </p><p>"We can stop at the cafe for lunch. It's empty so hopefully no one's the-"</p><p>"NO!" Loki's sudden shout of the word scared Thor a little. "Big Mugs is scary now!" </p><p>"Scary? Loki Laufeyson, it's a cafe! We've been there a bunch of times when we were little!" Thor scolded his baby brother a little. </p><p>"But then the ghost girl's gonna get us!" Loki clung onto the red hoodie of his older adoptive brother. "That's what the way bigger kids always say!"</p><p>"The way bigger kids say that, don't they?" Thor asked and Loki nodded. "Well the way bigger kids are stupid then, Loki. There's no such thing as ghost." </p><p>"But!"</p><p>"Loki." Thor bent down a little to Loki's height level. "The cafe's safe, okay? Ghost or no ghost, I'm not letting her or anyone hurt you."</p><p>"P-Promise big brother?" Loki asked and a felt a kiss to his right cheek. </p><p>"Your big brother promises." Thor picked Loki up as he spoke. "Now, to the cafe!"</p><p>Loki giggled at his older sibling. "To the cafe!"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"I don't remember a outside playground at Big Mugs Coffee Bar." Thor stated as he watched as Loki run and play.</p><p>"Oh yeah, they had it finished it last April!" Loki slightly glanced at his sibling while he played on the monkey bars. </p><p>"Oh." Thor said. </p><p>Loki climbed down the two ladder bars on the other side of the monkey bars and then ran over to a purple colored slide. Thor watched as his little brother did so before going back to eating his apple. Once he finished, Loki ran up and grabbed Thor's right hand.</p><p>"Thor! I've got to go potty!" Loki whined. </p><p>"Then, go potty." Thor pulled his hand back. </p><p>"But, it's scary in there, remember?" Loki asked. </p><p>Thor remembered, he had to, Loki wouldn't let him live it down if he had. "Okay, come on."</p><p>The boys carefully stepped over the broken glass on the ground and made their way to the restroom hall that wasn't too far from the left side enterence. As soon as they reached the men's restroom, which had no door by the way unlike the women's restroom, Loki stopped. </p><p>"Loki, I'm going to be right out here, okay?" Thor looked at his little brother. </p><p>"Ok-Okay." Loki nodded his head. </p><p>Thor waited paitently outside for Loki to finish. Once he did, Loki walked out using his green hoodie to dry his hands. Thor took Loki's hand and led his little brother back outside to the playground, but unlike last time, Loki just stayed next to Thor, his head resting on Thor's right shoulder as he nuzzled his head against Thor's. </p><p>"Loki?" Thor asked. "What's wrong?"</p><p>"Tired." Came Loki's reply. "Can we go home, big brother?"</p><p>Thor sighed. "Yes Loki, we can go home." </p><p>Loki grabbed Teddy and Thor threw away the rest of the eaten food Loki had left behind before he went to play when they first arrived. Once Thor came back, Loki reached up towards Thor.</p><p>"Carry me." Loki said.</p><p>"No, you didn't say please." Thor responded and Loki sighed.</p><p>"Can you please carry me big brother?" Loki asked again.</p><p>"That's better."</p><p>And soon Loki was picked up with Teddy being put in the bag. Thor opened the fence gate and started the walk home. Loki yawned as he was being carried and rest his head on Thor's right shoulder. </p><p>"I love you." Loki muttered sleepily. </p><p>"I love you too." </p><hr/><p>Loki still felt sleepy when he woke up five hours later. The boy slowly trudged down the steps, dragging Teddy with him, and didn't stop until he reached the living room. Loki reached the couch and found his sleeping big brother still holding the tv remote. Loki got on the couch and crawled over to his older sibling and laid down on top of Thor.</p><p>"Thor, wake up." Loki mumbled. </p><p>"Noooooo." Thor whined.</p><p>"You're no fun." Loki pouted while moving his head to lay on Thor's chest. </p><p>"I'm no fun, huh?"</p><p>Loki barely saw his brother open his eyes before he found himself being tickled on his sides by his big brother. Loki laughed and squealed as he was tickled. </p><p>"T-T-THOR! STOP! PLE-LEASE STOP BIG-BIG BROT-"</p><p>The tickling stopped much to Loki's relief. But, what wasn't a relief to the young seven-year-old was what was looking over the back of the couch and at both of the brothers. It was a man.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Thor!" Loki gasped as he was pulled outside of the house</p><p>"Run! Just run Loki!" Thor yelled.</p><p>Loki did as he was told, he ran and ran until he couldn't anymore. Loki fell onto his knees when he felt that it wasn't safe to stand as his breathing went back to normal. Loki then looked around and quickly realized that Thor wasn't with him anymore.</p><p>"Tho-Thor?" Loki asked. Loki panted until his breathing got better. "Thor?"</p><p>Loki stood up despite his body still shaking and looked around again just in case he missed seeing his big brother the first time, but just like last time, Loki couldn't find Thor at all.</p><p>"Thor!" Loki yelled, tears already starting to come to his eyes. "THOR!"</p><p>Loki looked around for somewhere to hide, if something bad happened to Thof he knew that Thor would never want the same thing to happen to him. Loki found Big Mugs as he walked around, he had been so scared he hadn't realized that he had walked anywhere near the abandoned cafe. <em>There</em>. Loki thought. <em>Thor can find me in there. </em></p><p>Loki pushed the left side door open and closed it once he got in. Quickly walking past the restroom hall, Loki walked behind where cashiers would stand and take orders and curled up right as he sat down. Thor would find him, Thor wasn't going to give up on him, his big brother would find him.</p><p>—∞—∞—∞—∞—</p><p>Thor hobbled down the street that led to Big Mugs, the most logical place Thor could think of where his baby brother could hide. Thor's left foot hurt so much, it was twisted, not broken, the man hadn't grabbed it that hard to where it would break. Thor didn't do the same for the man when he led him off the roof of a house not too far from Big Mugs. Thor was relieved once he grabbed onto the gate that circled the play area and the whole cafe. He held onto it and lifted his foot up giving it a long time without any pressure on it.</p><p>Thor looked inside and swore he saw movement inside of Big Mugs Cafe Bar. Thor watched as somebody with long black hair move to the big and long rectangular windows and Thor felt like he already wanted to cry out of relief, it was Loki. Loki was the first to move, running out of the cafe and screaming his name.</p><p>"THOR! THOR! THOR!"</p><p>Thor laughed as the younger tackle him down to the ground. Loki grabbed onto tightly of Thor's hoodie, afraid that the man that made both him and Thor leave the house in the first place would come and take Thor away from him. But the many kisses to Loki's cheeks and forehead told Loki that nothing was going to happen to him or Thor.</p><p>"Loki, Loki, Loki!" Thor chanted the younger's name as he sobbed.</p><p>Loki hummed happily at just hearing his name. He rested his head under Thor's and let the older sibling rock him. Nuzzling the top of Loki's head and kissed it once he pulled away.</p><p>The sound of a train entered both boys's hearing. Thor looked around confused, he didn't remember any train going through Asgard when he was little. Loki however was already untangling himself from his elder sibling's arms and pulling on Thor's right hand. Thor grunted as he was pulled up by Loki and his little brother realized that something was wrong with his older sibling.</p><p>"Thor?" Loki asked.</p><p>"I'm fine baby brother." Thor assured. "When did we get a train?"</p><p>"Two years ago, but mom said that Asgard always had plans since 2060, so three decades before you were born. It goes across the Atlantic Ocean all the way to America." Loki explained. </p><p>"So, it's still going even with everything going crazy?" Thor asked and Loki nodded. </p><p>"But it might not be free." Loki added. </p><p>"Well, we have to try. Come on."</p><p>Thor took Loki's hand and started down the road on Copper Route, the road that led to the Asgard Train Station. And if nothing wrong happened, then the boys would end up in America, and hopefully it was kind of better than Asgard. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p></p><div>
  <p>Getting onto the train was easier than Loki had thought, he had seriously thought that he and Thor wouldn't be allowed on. They had no money, no train tickets, the train conductor just let the two boys on. Apparently, the train was one of the fastest trains built in the end of the 21st century, so they were going super fast. It didn't feel super fast to Loki, but he counted the days that he and Thor had been on the train for two now three days from January 7th to January 10th. Three boring days, the only entertainment that both Thor and Loki liked was watching tv in their train cabin.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>It was in the early morning of their third day and Loki couldn't sleep anymore, but he stayed in Thor's arms. Loki nuzzled into the soft fabric that made up Thor's grey pajama shirt and smiled at how soft it felt. But even the nuzzling and cuddling couldn't even put Loki back to sleep. Loki wiggled himself free from Thor's arms and got off their bed. Loki looked at the alarm clock that the nice lady, Rain, gave them and saw that it was 2:20 a.m. <em>Geez, what's wrong with me?</em> Loki thought to himself. Loki glanced over at Thor who was still asleep even with the youngest no longer being in his arms. Loki opened the door of their sleeping car that he and Thor were staying in and with one final look at Thor, he left.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Loki walked into the passenger car where others were actually awake like him too. He heard people talking, one conversation that Loki picked up on was two men talking about America. At first, Loki thought that it was going to be about them being excited about living there, it turned out that it wasn't and Loki walked away even though neither man had noticed the young boy. Loki then walked three rows down and saw a woman struggling to keep her five kids calm and quiet. Loki wondered what life would be like if he and Thor had five brothers or sisters. <em>Poor Thor wouldn't get much sleep.</em> Loki thought with a smile. Well, neither would Loki, but mostly Thor since he was the oldest.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"New kid!" A boy with curly blonde hair shouted loudly. "Eliza! A new kid!"</p>
</div><div>
  <p>A girl with brown braided hair and blue eyes ran next to her brother and stared up at Loki. Loki looked at the mother who was whispering her son and daughter's names while she held three baby girls in her arms. Loki backed away, and Eliza and the boy who Loki now knew as Leon, took a step forward. Loki started walking back to his and Thor's sleeping car and the kids followed. Loki rushed towards the car, opened the door, ran in, and slammed it close.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Loki?" Loki looked to his Thor's bed to see the oldest was now awake. "Loki, what's wrong?"</p>
</div><div>
  <p>In response, Loki walked over and collapsed into Thor's arms and pulled himself up onto the bed. "Don't want to talk about it."</p>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The door of Thor and Loki's sleeping car opened as Rain Massey opened the door. Walking closer, Rain could see that both brothers were still in bed and holding onto each other as they slept, Thor's head on top of Loki's and a frown on Thor's face while moved Loki closer than he already was to Thor. Rain couldn't help but feel bad for boys, it was obvious that the parents were neither with the children, dead or alive, and Rain knew as soon as the conductor made his choice, the boys and all the 321 passengers on The Asgard-Atlantic Express would be dumped there and the train would leave them there.</p><p> </p><p></p><div>
  <p>Rain looked at the alarm on the side table, it was 8:12 a.m., only two hours and three minutes until they would be in America. Nobody would get breakfast, passengers of staff. Unless they made it earlier than 10:15. Rain barely got her bacon and eggs because of Rory and Violetta taking so long. Rain couldn't let two children go hungry, not with the growing line of staff in the kichen. </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p></p>
  <div>
    <p>Rain heard something fall onto the ground and looked down to see it was a nickel. <em>Money, give them money. </em>Rain dugged in her uniform pocket and pulled more money out of the pocket. She didn't stop until she laid $665,000 down on the table. Rain then looked around for a sticky note or just anything that would allow her to write something to the boys. She found a bunch of sticky notes on the desk and started writing.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>
      <em>𝑈𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑦, 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑤𝑜, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦.</em>
    </p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>And with that, Rain left Thor and Loki's sleeping car.</p>
  </div>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div>
  <p>Thor woke up again and looked to see he was still holding Loki. Thor pushed hair back that was covering Loki's face and placed a kiss on the seven-year-old's forehead. Loki hummed happily and opened his eyes, looking up he saw the blue eyes that belonged to his older adoptive brother.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Good morning." Loki yawned.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Good morning to you too." Thor yawned back.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Thor sat up causing Loki to whine knowing that Thor was going to make him get up too, but Thor only sighed and lifted Loki up so he was now holding his little brother. Loki smiled and laid his head on Thor's right shoulder. As Thor moved to the walk out of the car, Loki saw something green on the table.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Money!" Loki yelled and started reaching for the money. "Thor! Money!"</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Huh?" Thor looked and he saw what Loki was trying to reach for. Thor walked over and grabbed the money and looked it over to make sure it was real money.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"How much? How much?" Loki asked and Thor chuckled a little at how excited his brother was.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"I...I don't know yet." Thor replied.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"A million?" Loki smiled at his big brother.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Probably not Loki." Thor said.</p>
  <p></p>
  <div>
    <p>"Aw, then we could go to Disneyworld." Loki pouted.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>Thor sighed and shook his head with a smile. Thor looked away from his brother to see a man with short blonde curly hair and a long blonde beard staring at the two brothers.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>"Who the heck are you?!" Thor asked.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>But the man didn't answer, he gave a quick look at the money that Thor held before reaching towards the two boys. Of course Thor backed away, but that didn't stop the blonde haired man from trying again. Everytime Thor moved while carrying Loki, the man followed, soon Thor's back was pressed against the door and the man's blank and expressionless face turned angry once he realized what the boy was about to do.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>"Tho-" Loki was cut off by his older brother placing his hand over his mouth.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>Thor moved the money to his left hand and used his right hand to pull the door opened and ran out of the sleeping car. Thor looked everywhere as they reached the dining car to hide Loki. He decided on the furthest row of tables and lifted the tablecloth on the last table at the left of the third row.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>"T-Thor." Loki choked out.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>"Shh sweetheart shh, I'm gonna be right back, I promise." Thor whispered and kissed his baby brother's forehead before taking off.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>Thor looked everywhere as he left the dining car. Just something that he could find to use against the man. It wasn't like last time, he was on a train, Thor couldn't lead the man off the roof of a building. <em>The front of the train. </em>Thor thought once he saw the next and last train car.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>"HEY!"</p>
    <p></p>
    <div>
      <p>Thor looked back to see the man was running straight towards him, and Thor started running as fast as he could into the front train car. Thor didn't have much time to hide or find a barricade, so he did the most idiotic thing that he could think of to do, hide behind the door.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <p>It didn't take long for the blonde haired man to enter the front train car. The man started screaming every curse word that Thor now knew of because of Theodore as he looked around for Thor. Thor felt something hit the wall as he watched from the door's window as the man tried to pull out the driver's seat from what it was attatched to on the floor. Thor looked down to see there were keys not too far from his left foot. Gulping down the saliva that started to get stuck in his throat and giving one more glance at the man, Thor crowched down to pick up the keys. What Thor didn't expect to happen was one of the keys to fall out of his hand and back on the floor making a noise as it did so. Thor nervously stood up and right as he did, the man's hazel eyes locked onto Thor's blue eyes.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <p>"YOU!" The man screamed again.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <p>Thor screamed too and ran out of the room. He quickly remembered the door and held it close as best as he could while trying every key to lock the door. Finally, the last key fit the door was locked once it was turned the way to lock the door. Thor slid down against the door and tried his best to catch his breath, but the constant pounding on the door kept interrupting the boy's chance to calm down.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <p>"Lo-Loki," Thor could barely say his little brother's voice once his mind cleared from his most-likely-death experience. "Loki!"</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <p>Thor didn't have the energy to run anymore once he stood, as he tried to walk, pain went into his left foot. <em>Oh great.</em> Thor thought, he had hurt his left foot again. It took a while as he limped to the dining car for Thor to realize the train wasn't moving anymore, probably because he was being chased by his and Loki's would-be-killer or would-be-kidnapper, Thor didn't know, nor did he really want to know why the man chased him and Loki.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <p>"Loki! Loki!" Thor yelled once he entered the dining car.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <p>Thor remembered what table he put Loki. He limped over to the table and lifted the tablecloth up while dropping down to his knees and immediately was greeted by his baby brother tackling him down making Thor landed on his back.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <p>"THOR! OH THOR!" Loki sobbed loudly. "I th-thought h-h-h-he-e-e."</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <p>Thor held Loki close as the seven-year-old clung tightly onto his pajamas, pressing gentle comforting kisses to Loki's left cheek while starting to rock both of them once Thor sat up.</p>
      <p></p>
      <div>
        <p>"Loki, oh baby, it's okay sweetheart, it's okay." Thor cooed softly. "The bad guy's gone, I made the bad guy go away."</p>
      </div>
      <div>
        <p>"You-You di-di-did?" Loki asked and Thor nodded. "Are we in America?"</p>
      </div>
      <div>
        <p>Thor nodded again. "We stopped, so I'm guessing we are."</p>
      </div>
      <div>
        <p>"I want to leave, I want to leave the train." Loki sniffled.</p>
      </div>
      <div>
        <p>"Okay, we will."</p>
      </div>
      <div>
        <p>Thor tightened his grip on the money and let go of the keys once he picked Loki up. Slowly, Thor limped over to the door that would allow passengers on and pushed the sliding doors open. And he wasn't ready for what was outside of the train.</p>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>"Baby Mine" belongs to Bette Midler, Frank Churchill, Ned Washington, and Disney. <br/>________________________</p><p>(Warning: Blood in this chapter!)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bodies, too many for Thor to count. Bodies that laid on top of each other, some on their bellies, backs, all facing different directions. Some laying towards the left, to the right, some facing Thor and Loki. Loki whimpered and clung tighter than he already was to Thor's pajamas and Thor adjusted his grip once Loki started to slip. </p><p>"Th-Thor." Loki stuttered.</p><p>"Shh, shh, sweetheart." Thor did his best to soothe the younger. "I know, I know."</p><p>"Dumbo song." Loki whispered, he just needed something more to comfort him.</p><p>"Okay Loki, I'll sing, I'll sing." Thor assured Loki. He took a deep breath and started walking. </p><p>
  <em>Baby mine, don't you cry.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Baby mine, dry your eyes.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Rest your head close to my heart,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Never to part, baby of mine. </em>
</p><p>Something grabbed onto Thor's left leg and the boy did his best not to scream and scare Loki further than he already. Thor wiggled his leg free as fast as he could and didn't look at what grabbed him in the first place, he didn't want to anyways. </p><p>
  <em>Little one, when you play,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Pay no heed what they say. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Let your eyes sparkle and shine, </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Never a tear, baby of mine.</em>
</p><p>Blood trinkled down the leaves and down onto Thor's head. The boy hesitated before slowly looking up and gagged at was making blood drip down the tree in the first place. A struggle happened in Thor's throat as he tried to keep the vomit down. Once he knew he was safe from vomiting, Thor continued on. </p><p>
  <em>If they knew all about you, </em>
</p><p>
  <em>They'd end up loving you too.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>All those same people who scold you, </em>
</p><p>
  <em>What they'd give just for the right to hold you. </em>
</p><p>Thor finally made it to the end, or at least he hoped was the end of all the bodies of innocents who were brutally murdered by no doubt the man that Thor had trapped in the front train car.</p><p>
  <em>From your hair down to your toes, </em>
</p><p>
  <em>You're not much, goodness knows.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But you're so precious to me,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Sweet as can be, baby of mine.</em>
</p><p>As Thor finished the song in the slow and calm pace that he started, Loki was asleep curled up in the eldest's arms. And as the sun got higher in the sky, Thor left the area. He hoped that the man would be found, arrested, and locked up for life. None of the people who worked or was a passenger on the train deserved this to happen to any of them. Even if he couldn't do anything himself, he hoped that the people could at least get a happy ending by their killer being brought in. Thor placed a gentle kiss on the top of Loki's head, then wiped the tears away that he failed to realize were there.</p><p>"Baby of mine."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>ᖴOᑌᖇ ᗰOᑎTᕼՏ ᒪᗩTᗴᖇ...</p><p>"Thor!" </p><p>"Thor!"</p><p>"Thor! Wake up sleepyhead!"</p><p>Thor groaned as he raised his head off his pillow and blinked a few times before he could see Loki was standing next to the side that Thor laid on.</p><p>"Hi baby brother." Thor greeted tiredly and pulled him close so he could give a quick kiss to Loki's cheek. Loki giggled in response and climbed onto the bed. He laid next to Thor as they cuddled for a while before Thor sat up and stretched. </p><p>"Mr. and Mrs. Clarkson are making carmel apples today." Loki announced to his elder sibling. </p><p>"What for?" Thor questioned. </p><p>"For Sydney's sixth birthday." Loki pulled a envelope out of his hoodie pocket. "And I'm invited to it!"</p><p>Thor opened the already open envelope and pulled out a purple card. <strong>𝘛𝘖 𝘓𝘖𝘒𝘐, 𝘍𝘙𝘖𝘔 𝘚𝘠𝘋𝘕𝘌𝘠 𝘊. </strong>Was what was written on the cover, on the back of the cover was <strong>𝘠𝘖𝘜 𝘈𝘙𝘌 𝘐𝘕𝘝𝘐𝘛𝘌𝘋 𝘛𝘖 𝘔𝘠 𝘚𝘐𝘟𝘛𝘏 𝘉𝘐𝘙𝘛𝘏𝘋𝘈𝘠 𝘖𝘕 𝘈𝘗𝘙𝘐𝘓 6𝘛𝘏, 2100. 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘗𝘈𝘙𝘛𝘠 𝘐𝘚 𝘍𝘙𝘖𝘔 10:45 𝘈.𝘔., 𝘛𝘖 7:33 𝘗.𝘔.! 𝘚𝘌𝘌 𝘠𝘖𝘜 𝘚𝘖𝘖𝘕! </strong>Thor looked at his alarm clock to see the screen was showing that it was 11:22 A.M. </p><p>"You think they'll accept people who are late?" Thor asked and Loki shrugged and Thor sighed. "Hold on, let me get dressed and then we'll go."</p><p>"Yay!" Loki cheered and ran out to give Thor privacy while he dressed. </p><p>Later once Thor was dressed in a orange tanktop and grey shorts, the two started down the street. Thor knew where the Clarksons lived, 7163 Peace Avenue. Loki however was going in the direction of Elmwood Street.</p><p></p><div>
  <p>"Wrong way baby bro!" Thor called. "The Clarksons are this way!"</p>
</div><div>
  <p>But Loki stayed where he was and Thor walked over to him.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Loki, sweetheart, what's wrong?" Thor asked.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Loki pointed to the north fence that went all around Poltragow. Thor looked to see two people, one tall, taller than Thor, and one short. <em>'If someone leaves, let them go.'</em> Thor remembered Mr. Clarkson telling him once months ago when he and Loki first started living in Poltragow. Grabbing Loki's hand, he started walking towards Peace Avenue.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Thor?" Loki asked.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Let them be, Loki. If they want to leave, let them leave." Thor said as they walked.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Why?" Loki asked.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Well," Thor started. "Maybe they don't like living in Poltragow. Maybe they'll return, maybe they'll never return."</p>
  <p> </p>
  <p></p>
  <div>
    <p>"But everyone's so nice!" Loki objected.</p>
    <p>"Loki." Thor sighed. Loki looked down, Thor was getting upset, he didn't want his big brother upset.</p>
    <p>Thor lifted Loki up from the ground and held the little one close. A kiss on Loki's forehead came first, then Loki was lowered so he and Thor could press their foreheads together.</p>
    <p>"I'm not mad."</p>
    <p>"You were getting mad."</p>
    <p>"Sweetheart, I promise you I am not mad." </p>
    <p>Loki still wasn't sure and just held onto Thor. "I-I don't want to go to Syd's party anymore, Thor." </p>
    <p>"Loki." Thor adjusted his grip on Loki. "Fine, what do you want to do?"</p>
    <p>A smile came to Loki's lips. "Swimming!"</p>
  </div>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>"Thor! Look! Look!" </p><p> </p><p>Thor stopped giving Loki his piggyback ride to the pool to see the slide to Poltragow Pool to see the tall slide where he could see few kids already through the gate around the pool lined up and ready to go down the slide. Thor behind to Loki who was more fascinated with the slide than Thor was. Thor doubted that Loki could down it, and Thor had to prepare himself for any chance of his adopted brother having a tantrum if he was denied to go down. </p><p>"I wanna go down the slide Thor!" Loki shouted and Thor shushed him. </p><p>"Not so loud Loki!" Thor scolded.</p><p>Thor sighed and pulled the money that he and Loki found on the train and started walking closer to the pool's entrance. <strong>Monday-Wednesday; 9:00 A.M.,-6:44 P.M., Thursday-Saturday; 9:00 A.M.,-9:00P.M.</strong> Was what was written on a chalkboard, and above the chalkboard was another with the prices per age listed. <strong>1-3; $3.00, 4-7; $6.00, 8-11; $9.00, 12-15; $12.00, 16-19; $15.00, 20+; $18.00.</strong> Thor pulled six dollars for Loki, and nine dollars for himself. He then handed it to the lady at the desk and walked in and entered the boy's changing room.</p><p><br/>"Thor! Stop! You got sunscreen in my eyes!" Loki whined to the oldest. </p><p>While it was April, today was hot, really hot. Hot to where their skin was already a little burned from the walk to the pool.</p><p>"Sorry Loki, hold on." Thor grabbed the towel and started trying to get the sunscreen out of Loki's eyes. "There, better?"</p><p>"It still hurts a little." Loki whimpered. </p><p>"I'm sorry baby bro, I didn't mean to." Thor apologized again.</p><p>"It's okay." Loki sighed.</p><p>Once the two reached the pool area, Loki jumped in while Thor carried the yellow bag he got from home before they even started the walk to the pool, to a empty spot next to a lounge chair. Thor pulled his and Loki's towels out and laid them out and then placed their shoes on the towels. Thor walked over to where Loki was swimming and put his feet in first. Loki laughed as he swam over to Thor and smiled up at his big brother.</p><p>"Aren't you going to get in?" Loki asked and Thor nodded. </p><p>Thor pushed himself into the pool creating a little splash in the water. When he looked over at Loki, the younger splashed him.</p><p>"Hey!"</p><p>Loki laughed hysterically and swam away from Thor. Thor swam after his little brother and was continuosly splashed as he did so. Thor was surprised that no life guards weren't blowing their whistles at the two, giving a quick look around, there were no lifeguards at all. <em>What the heck?</em>  Thor thought to himself. Thor stopped swimming and Loki turned and noticed. </p><p>"Thor? What's wrong?" Loki asked.</p><p>"There's no lifeguards." Thor responded while looking around, maybe he missed something, just one mistake like his eyes tricking him and there were actually lifeguards at their chairs. </p><p>"Thor!" Loki was having none of this, he wanted to play in the pool with Thor! "Thor! I wanna play!"</p><p>"Okay," Thor said after being pulled by the arm. "What do you want to play?" </p><p>"Marco Polo!" Came his sibling's answer. "And your it!"</p><p>"Fine." Thor covered his eyes. "Marco!"</p><p>"Polo!"</p><p>"Marco!"</p><p>"Polo!"</p><hr/><p> </p><p>Hunting, something that Thor had grown to hate, but if he wanted to bring food home to Loki when Poltragow was running low on food. Thor helped with that problem, but he mostly did it for himself and Loki. Mr. Montgomery, the leader of Thor's group, which was mostly made up with seven boys and nine girls through the ages of 10-12, had given the children rules. Rules that some of the children thought that there wouldn't be no rules when it came to hunting, but there was. Number one was no guns, only knives, or just find a way to be creative. Rule number two was no taking other's kill, Mr. Montgomery does not want to deal with drama. Number three was go in a group if you have to, but that only came if the leader of Poltragow, Ms. Sharp, or Mr. Montgomery, were alertred that there were any intruders around the forest. Number five was make sure you have your own medical supplies, Poltragow is running low. And finally number six was just come safely, kill or no kill, all that mattered was Mr. Montgomery didn't have to come tell your folks that you got yourself killed while hunting. Thor was sure some of those weren't real hunting rules, but they were Poltragow's hunting rules.</p><p>"Can you bring home something else besides bunnies, brother?" Loki asked. A chuckle left Thor and he ruffled Loki's hair a bit.</p><p>"I'll try, Loki." </p><p>If Thor was honest, he was tired of only being brave enough to hunt rabbits. So maybe he could try to go out of his comfort zone and bring home a deer, or heck maybe he would find a orchard and bring some fruit home. Thor walked up to the others were standing and listened to where Mr. Montgomery tell the children to hunt.</p><p>"From the forest by Mrs. Booker's house to the orchard on the west going to Greywick!" Came the muffled order from the middle aged man as he chewed on a apple.</p><p>Most of the others headed off to the direction of the forest, not a single one of them went to the direction of the orchard, so Thor was taking his chance to go there. </p><p>"Thor!" </p><p>Thor turned to see Loki running up to him. The younger sibling hugged him like he usually did and Thor lifted Loki up so Loki could give him a kiss to Thor's forehead. </p><p>"Love you." </p><p>"I love you too!" Loki giggled while being released from Thor's arms. </p><p>"I'll try to bring some pears, apples, maybe blueberries from orchard." Thor told Loki and his baby brother cheered. "I'll see you soon."</p><p>And Thor left, hoping that he could bring home some fruit for both him and Loki, and being done eating cooked rabbits for a while. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><strong>Welcome To Lock, Stock, &amp; Barrel Orchard!</strong> Thor found the name of the Orchard weird, but he really didn't have the right to judge the name since he didn't own the orchard in the first place. He climbed over the fence that went around the orchard and started walking and picking fruit. Five hours into him gathering food, Thor discovered that he was mostly picking blueberries from the bushes, only a couple of times did Thor come across a apple or pear tree to climb and gather fruit from the tree. With his bag halfway full, Thor started to walk to the front of the orchard where he had came from, but stopped once he came across a couple of orange trees. Thor put his bag down at the bottom of the first tree and started climbing. Doing his best to gather as much oranges as he could, Thor gathered 12 oranges from the first climb up the tree, nine on the second time, and 10 on the third time.</p><p> </p><p>"31 oranges," Thor counted as he put each orange in plastic bags. "24 bags of blueberries, nine bags of apples, and six bags of pears. So 70 in total."</p><p> </p><p>That seemed enough to last Thor and Loki for a while. Thor zipped his bag up and finished his walk to the front of the orchard and climbed back over the fence. <em>We could make carmel apples, applesauce blueberry pie, apple pie!</em> Thor listed out what he could make that he had learned to make thanks to Mrs. Clarkson over the past four months. Other ideas started coming to Thor's head that his stomach started growling. <em>Come on, just another hour of walking.</em> Thor tried to fight against his self-made hunger.</p><p> </p><p>The walk made the sweat that already existed from the walk to the orchard, searching the orchard, and climbing the trees, come down harder. He definitely had some sunburns here and there on his arms and shoulders, but the ones that Thor found so far on his body looked home treatable. <em>A nice cold bath to soak in. </em>Thor thought. Once he returned to Poltragow, he was bombarded by kids trying to at least see what he had found. Thor knew that the next time, the orchard was now useless, the others would go and in a matter of time, it would be empty and then it would be back to rabbit in a matter of days. Thor rushed down the street with everyone else following, Thor locked the door, but that didn't stop the banging on the door to where it made Thor scared that they would knock the door off its hinges. </p><p> </p><p>Thor slowly and tiredly walked down the front hallway and into the kitchen. He opened the fridge and opened the bottom drawer and started putting the bags that needed to be put in the fridge in the drawer in alphabetical order, Apples, blueberries, oranges, and pears. Thor didn't have a lot to put the fruit, he was a child and children will get more as they get older, if he was putting Mr. Montgomery's words from Thor's first days of hunting correctly. Once he was done, Thor entered the living room where he found Loki asleep wrapped in a blue blanket. Thor smiled and lifted Loki up and placed a gentle kiss to his baby brother's left cheek. </p><p> </p><p>"T-T-Thor?" Loki mumbled. </p><p> </p><p>"Shh," Thor whispered. "Hi baby bro."</p><p> </p><p>Loki hummed happily at his elder sibling's return and watched as Thor fix parts of Loki's blanket that started to unwrap from Loki. Thor carried Loki up to his and Thor's room and covered Loki up with the big red blanket as well as the blue blanket. Once Thor tucked Loki in, he pressed another kiss to Loki's left cheek again. </p><p> </p><p>"I'm getting in the tub Loki." Thor told Loki. "Yell if you need anything."</p><p> </p><p>"O-Okay big brother." Loki yawned with a smile. </p><p> </p><p>Closing the door as he left the room, Thor opened the closet in the hallway and grabbed a green towel, a blue washcloth, a bar of soap, and grabbed a bottle of hair shampoo. Thor carried everything he needed for his bath into the bathroom that was across his and Loki's room and laid them on the counter. Thor reentered the bedroom and grabbed a blue T-shirt, and blue jeans. Once Thor went back to the bathroom, he started his bath. </p><p> </p><p>Thor sighed once he sat down on the tub's floor after getting undressed and waited a while until the water was up to his belly before turning it off. Thor just relaxed and washed his body off of the stink from being outside. Once his hair was lathered up with the shampoo, Thor pulled the plug up so the water could go down the drain, and while that was happening, Thor carefully stood up and started a shower. After he got his hair was washed, Thor turned the shower off and got out of the tub. Thor dried and dressed himself in the new clothes that he picked, and then he returned to his and Loki's room. </p><p> </p><p>"Yay you're done!" Loki cheered and Thor rolled his eyes with a smile.</p><p> </p><p>Thor climbed onto the bed and sat down next to Loki who moved to rest his head on Thor's chest. Nuzzling against Thor, Loki looked up at his older brother with a smile. </p><p> </p><p>"I can make caramel apples to go with whatever we eat for dinner tonight, how does that sound?" Thor asked. </p><p> </p><p>"I like it," Loki agreed. "I love you, Thor." </p><p> </p><p>"I love you too."</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As April 16th rolled around, Poltragow was having water issues. And that left Thor and his hunting group to hunt even harder. Sure, he had brought canteens, water bottles, and other items that held water that a person could drink out of, but Poltragow had a water tower. From what Thor had learned from Mr. Montgomery, the water tower had been one of the main sources providing to the people since Poltragow was found back in the 2050's. And now, it was almost empty.</p><p> </p><p>"Do...do you think that we'll have to go out of state?" One of the 10-year-old boys, Arsher Morales, asked while sitting next to Thor and a 12-year-old girl who went by Spot. "Li-Like out of Florida?"</p><p> </p><p>"Maybe, better hope you have somebody watching Loki, Thor." Spot replied while turning to Thor.</p><p> </p><p>"I do, the Clarksons are watching him until I get back." Thor answered.</p><p> </p><p>"The Clarksons? As in Sydney Clarkson?" Spot asked and Thor nodded. "Oh god, she's so annoying and bratty!"</p><p> </p><p>Thor only shrugged off what Spot had said. "Eh, Loki can be that way sometimes too, so I'm used to it."</p><p> </p><p>"Yeah, but you're family." Spot mumbled. "I swear, if I hear her whine and complain one more time I'm going to-"</p><p> </p><p>"And risk your home?" Thor questioned and Spot shut up right there.</p><p> </p><p><em>Of course Spot wouldn't risk losing her home. </em>Thor thought. Mr. Montgomery eventually called Thor's name and the boy headed up to his group's leader. But instead of being told, he was handed a index card. <strong>Miami, Florida </strong>was what sloppily written on the card in blue pen. Miami was only nine miles away from Poltragow, Thor only knew that because of reading the book he was given not that long ago from Mr. Montgomery. It was a requirement if Thor didn't want to be suspended for a two week period from hunting.</p><p> </p><p>"Don't worry kid," Mr. Montgomery whispered to Thor, his smoke scented made Thor quietly gag. "Hey Bigton! Bring in the bus!"</p><p> </p><p>A yellow school bus came pulling in and the children looked with wide eyes as soon as it came to a stop. Mr. Montgomery gave Thor a nudge, encouraging the pre-teen to get on. Thor did and was greeted by Bigton, a young adult man, probably 10 or more years older than Thor, waving his adult sized hand at Thor. Thor sheepishly waved back and sat down at a seat with the number three marked on the bus's walls. Soon, the other kids in Thor's group got on and Bigton grabbed a whiteboard and a black marker and started writing something down. Once he was done, he showed it to the kids. <strong>MIAMI, FLORIDA. </strong></p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><div>
  <p>"How much stuff do ya got?" Spot asked while Thor and the other kids assigned to Miami pulled everything they had found up the bus steps.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Not-Not much." Thor responded.</p>
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  <p>Thor carried his bag of his findings to his seat and sat down. Bigton started the bus again once the last kid got on. The next seven hours were spent going to different places like Orlando and Tampa. They went to Kissimmee just for gas and then they were off to go back to Poltragow. Once they returned, Thor made his way to the Clarksons to get Loki. Halfway paying the couple for taking care of his sibling, Loki tackled Thor and held him in a hug. Thor only brushed it off as Loki showing that he missed Thor, but he did notice Loki was wearing a red baseball hat. Something that Loki never wore, Loki wasn't a hat person. Once the two brothers got further from the Clarkson house, Thor decided to bring it up.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"So, who gave you the hat?" Thor asked.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Mr. Clarkson." Came the short reply.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Something in Thor's gut kicked his big brother mode into motion, he knew what Loki had said was a lie. Mr. Clarkson was nice, forgiving, but possessive over the things he had collected for years. His hats being one of them.</p>
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  <p>"Loki," Thor started calmly. "Loki, look at me."</p>
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  <p>Loki only sniffled and then came the sobs. Everyone else stared at the siblings and Thor glared and pulled Loki close and held him protectively from whoever gave judgmental stares at Loki. Thor gathered his baby brother up into his arms and carried Loki the rest of the way home. Once they arrived home, Thor tried to take the hat off, but Loki was doing his best to keep the baseball hat on.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Loki, it's okay baby, it's me, Thor." Thor assured. "I'm not going to hurt you, Sweetheart."</p>
  <p> </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p></p>
  <div>
    <p>Loki sniffled and slowly he took the hat off his head and Thor saw what he didn't want to see when Loki looked up at him. A big swollen eye that was starting to bruise. Loki shook as he stood and Thor followed him to his knees, holding the younger one tightly while Loki sobbed louder than before.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Loki sobbed while Thor started pressing kisses to Loki's cheeks and forehead. "I didn't mean to make her mad at me!"</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>"Who?" Thor asked.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>"Syd!" Loki sobbed.</p>
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  <div>
    <p>Thor pulled Loki even closer, cradling the little boy who didn't deserve what happened to him. Now he agreed that Sydney deserved whatever Spot was going to say before Thor cut her off. Syd hurt Loki, she wasn't earning Thor's forgiveness if she tried to get it back. Thor stood taking Loki with him causing Loki to whimper.</p>
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  <div>
    <p>"T-T-Thor?" Loki asked and Thor kissed the middle of Loki's nose.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>"Shh, Sweetheart, shh. We're just going to get ready for bed and then tomorrow, we go see Dr. Bennet about your eye." Thor explained.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>Loki nodded and Thor carried him to their room. Thor got Loki dressed in his green pajamas, and then got himself dressed in his orange tank top and a pair of camouflage shorts. Thor then grabbed a hairbrush that Thor kept in his bag and started brushing the long black hair back into place. And Loki returned the favor for Thor and then handed the hairbrush back to Thor once he was done. Thor picked Loki up while Thor moved to lay against the pillows and layed Loki down so the younger boy could rest his head on Thor's chest. Thor hummed a little tune while the cuddling continued. Loki yawned and Thor followed and then pulled the blanket over both him and Loki.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>"I love you, Thor." Loki yawned while nuzzling his head against Thor's chest. "So much."</p>
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  <div>
    <p>"I love you too, Loki." Thor repeated. "So much."</p>
    <p> </p>
    <p> </p>
    <p></p>
    <div>
      <p>Loki giggled as he felt Thor kiss the top of his head. "My Thor, my big brother."</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <p>"My Loki, my baby brother."</p>
    </div>
  </div>
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  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div>
  <p>The Clarksons were out of Poltragow in two weeks when April 30th arrived. Thor held Loki tightly as he laid in their bed with him as they heard the Clarkson's car pull past their car and out of town. Loki opened his eyes and felt Thor kiss his forehead.</p>
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  <p>"Thor?" Loki asked.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"What is it?" Thor asked.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Ca-Can I go hunting with you today?" The younger asked.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Thor sat up a bit. "Why do you want to go hunting with me? You hate hunting."</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Well, you don't have a babysitter for me anymore and...and I want to help. I'm growing up too and you're not always going to be there for me when I get older." Loki explained nervously for what Thor would say in response.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Loki..."</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"I'm sorry! I...I shouldn't have said that, or anything at all." Loki looked away.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Sweetie, Loki, it's alright." Thor assured his little brother. "I'm not upset at you for asking."</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"So...So I can come?" Loki asked hopefully.</p>
  <p></p>
  <div>
    <p>"We can try," Thor responded. "But, no fits if Mr. Montgomery says no, okay?"</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>"Okay!" Loki nodded happily.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>Later in the day, Thor made sure he had everything ready in his bag, a first aid kit, clothes, sunscreen, and water bottles, the preteen was ready to have anything with him to aid him and Loki. Thor held Loki's hand as they waited for Mr. Montgomery to come back from news from Ms. Sharp with Loki joining Thor's group. After a hour of waiting, Mr. Montgomery approached the siblings.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>"Well Thor, your little brother is allowed to come." Mr. Montgomery started speaking and the two boys cheered. "But Loki, for right now she just wants you watching, okay?"</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>Despite being told that he had to watch Thor, Loki nodded. "Yes sir!"</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>Thor led Loki over to the others and a few scowled at a kid who was five to three years younger than them was joining the group. There was a hunting group led by Ms. Sharp and the kids in that group were eight to nine-years-old, and Loki had a couple of years until he was eight and nine.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>"Does he have to come?" Spot asked Thor while Loki talked to a much more kinder kid, one of the 11-year-old girls, Melba Hodge.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>"I have no babysitter anymore. The Clarksons left earlier this morning." Thor replied. "And he's just watching me hunt."</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>"Just you?" Arsher asked.</p>
  </div>
  <div>
    <p>"He could watch the others, but I think he's just going to stick with me for now." Thor answered.</p>
    <p></p>
    <div>
      <p>Later when they were on Bigton's bus, Thor noticed that Loki was looking at Thor's knife. When his baby brother tried to touch the blade, Thor pulled away.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <p>"Can't I hold it?" Loki asked disappointed that he couldn't hold his older brother's hunting knife.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <p>"It's...Maybe later, okay?"</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <p>"Okay." Loki nodded and his smile from earlier returned.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <p>After Bigton did everything to start up the bus, he grabbed the whiteboard and wrote down their destination. And once he was done, he showed it to the kids. <b>New York City, New York. </b></p>
    </div>
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